Verizon Suffers Outage in Philadelphia – Malfunctioning Call Router to Blame

Verizon customers in southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware experienced major problems getting their telephone calls through June 29th, all due to a failed “traffic controller” router which helps route calls to their final destination.  A backup system also failed, resulting in busy signals for customers in Philadelphia and Delaware.

The failed call router, located in Center City, began impacting phone customers by 6:00am as people began making calls.  Verizon technicians attempted to work around the equipment, but often ended up overloading nearby working circuits, which increased congestion further.  Both wired and mobile phone customers were impacted.

The company managed to repair and re-balance the telephone network by 6:00pm that same evening, and Verizon promised to take steps to minimize the possibility of the problem happening again in the future.